Coursework Assessment Task 3: Share Price Group Report

This task must be carried out in your allocated project group. Each group is required to produce a written report on their allocated project company as detailed below. The main project company will be allocated to your group. AIMS OF THE WRITTEN REPORT The aim of the report is to describe your allocated company, at least two competitor companies and the industry (or industries) in which they operate. In addition to this you will outline the share price movements for the company, competitor(s) and NSE NIFTY (or BSE Sensex) index, as appropriate, over the study period and in relation to a particular event. The study period is from 1st August 2011 29th February 2012. The report should be a maximum of 2,000 words long (excluding plots and references). This is worth 5% of the AcF100 coursework. The report will include: a. A title page containing name of report and name of all team members b. A contents page (if desired) c. An executive summary d. a brief introduction outlining the topic coverage of your report e. company analysis: section explaining about share price movements and news for your allocated company (see below for details). f. competitor analysis: section explaining about the share price movements and news for your two competitor companies, making comparisons to the main company and its industry (see below for details). g. event analysis: section detailing share price movements in response to a companyspecific event (see below for details). h. a conclusion which summarizes your findings i. a reference list j. an appendix containing the group contribution sheet and coursework declaration sheet (Appendix is required in hard copy only) PLEASE NOTE: You may include quotations in this report and all ideas/knowledge should be acknowledged by citations, as appropriate. Please remember to also include the full reference in the reference list. COMPANY ANALYSIS Group Task: The group should collect share prices for the main company and the NSE Nifty (or BSE Sensex) index, as appropriate, over the study period. The study period is from 1st August

2011 29th February 2012. Note: If your main company is included in the BSE Sensex, you may wish to use the BSE Sensex, rather than NSE Nifty as the comparative performance index. The group should also collect newspaper clippings for the company and industry. Please note: The group should decide on the appropriate comparative index to use for the companies tracked (depending on whether they are in BSE Sensex or NSE Nifty index). The same marks are available for either comparative index chosen and there are no additional marks available for doing both indices. The company analysis section of the report should include a plot of your main project company share price over the study period using Microsoft Excel (including relevant titles etc) relative to the movements in to the NSE Nifty (or BSE Sensex) index, as appropriate. In the discussion for this section of the report, you should relate the plot as far as possible to important economic or other events over that period. This discussion should be related to relevant extracts from the financial press (e.g. newspapers) and movements in the NSE Nifty (or BSE Sensex) index, as appropriate. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Group Task: The group should collect share prices for the two comparator companies (guidance on choosing appropriate comparators is below). The group should also collect newspaper clippings for the comparator companies. In the competitor analysis section of the report, you should include a plot of the share price of the competitor(s) over the study period relative to movements in the NSE Nifty (or BSE Sensex) index, as appropriate (guidelines on choosing competitor companies are provided below) using Microsoft Excel (including relevant titles etc). You should outline why you chose the competitor companies and explain in what sense your chosen companies are close competitors and in what sense they are not close competitors. In addition, you should assess major economic and other events that have affected these competitors and their share price over the project period 1st August 2011 29th February 2012). You may wish to discuss factors which have affected the sector as a whole. You should compare and contrast these events and share price movements in your comparator companies with what has happened to the project company over the project period and movements in the NSE Nifty (or BSE Sensex) index, as appropriate. In addition you should consider why there are differences/similarities in share price movements in the project company and comparator companies share prices over the study period. EVENT ANALYSIS Group Task: The group should decide on an event (guidelines on choosing an event are provided below) for further analysis. You should collect share price data for main company, comparators and FTSE 100 (or 250) index, as appropriate for 10 working days before and 10 working days after the event.

For the event analysis section of the report, there should be a single major event discussed. Using Microsoft Excel (including relevant titles etc), plot the daily share prices for 10 working days either side of the announcement (i.e. 10 working days before and 10 working days after). The plot should be re-based as demonstrated in lectures [It is important to obtain the first date such an announcement appears in the press, since any market reaction is likely to occur at that time.] A similar plot should also be done for the close competitors and for the NSE Nifty (or BSE Sensex) index for the same 20 days on the same chart. In the discussion, assess the nature of and possible reasons for the stock market reaction / nonreaction to your selected major event (a non-reaction might also be significant if you had expected some reaction). Relate your assessment to any press coverage at that time, and contrast company specific share price reaction with overall market (NSE Nifty or BSE Sensitive index) movements over the same days and also with share price movements of the competitor. [The latter comparisons are to try to isolate firm specific effects from overall market movements.] GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING COMPETITOR COMPANIES Group Task: From the information obtained about the sector of the allocated project company from newspapers, Capitalline, FAME and Marketline, the group should decide on two comparator companies. The group should consider in what sense the comparators are similar to your main company, and in what sense they are different (e.g. products, geographical operations, strategy etc). The comparator companies must be listed and quoted on the National Stock Exchange or Bombay Stock Exchange (It may be a member of NSE Nifty or BSE Sensitive Index for example). You must be able to get stock prices from the Stock Exchange for the companies chosen. Note: You can check this on Capitalline your company should be public limited and listed. If your company is much smaller than any potential competitor company this does not matter as you will still be able to collect the necessary information for both companies. You will still be able to compare and contrast events and share price movements with what has happened to the project company over the project period. Your group should select two competitor competitors by week 3 of Semester 2. Please come and see me during my office consultation hours or contact me by email (kushal.kataria@gdgoenka.ac.in) if you are having problems identifying relevant competitors for your main company. GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING AN EVENT Group Task: Select a single major event at any date between 1st August 2011 and 29th February 2012 (e.g. a press release of interim or annual earnings, or of say a major report affecting the particular project company industry, or announcement of a take-over bid) affecting your project company. The event should not be one that primarily affects the economy as a whole.

For this event, you should collect the daily share prices for your main company for 10 working days either side of the announcement of the event. [Please note: It is important to obtain the first date such an announcement appears in the press, since any market reaction is likely to occur at that time. Therefore the group should take care to search a number of sources to ensure it identifies the correct date]. Your group should also collect share price data for your comparative companies and the NSE Nifty or BSE Sensitive Index for the same 20 days. In addition, the group should identify any relevant newspaper articles relating to the event and refer to these as necessary in the main report. You must agree as a group your single major event with your tutor by week 8 of Semester 2. DEADLINE FOR GROUP REPORT: This report must be word processed in Microsoft Word and submitted in both soft and hard copy. The deadline for all hard and soft copies will be in Week 12 of Semester 2. Exact date and time will be notified to you by the program office. Please note: late mark penalties will be applied if the hard or soft copy of your groups piece is not submitted by this deadline. The hard copy must contain a signed coursework declaration sheet which is signed by the group chair (on the understanding all group members are jointly responsible for any plagiarism detected) and the group contribution sheet. Please ensure the names of all team members are included on the hard and soft copy of your report. Please note: The Department reserves the right to adjust coursework marks after coursework has been returned to students in order to ensure that the coursework marks have an appropriate distribution. GUIDANCE ON FORMATTING YOUR REPORT Your report should be word-processed with 1.5 line spacing. Font size to be used is Times New Roman size 12 for the main body text. You may wish to enlarge the font size used for any headings/title of your report. To help the marker, you may also wish to leave a line between each paragraph and indent the start of each paragraph. The share price charts may be incorporated within the text or included as an appendix. Please ensure the charts are properly labeled and the sources of data are properly acknowledged. These charts should be drawn in Microsoft Excel, rather than cut and pasted from internet sources. Your report should also include an executive summary, which summarizes your main findings. This should be no more than 250 words long and is included in the word count. The sections/subsections of your report should be clearly titled. Please note: The reference list is not included in the word count, but citations within the text are included in the word count. There is no 10% allowance in the word count and if you go over the word limit, it is at the markers discretion as to whether you will be penalised for this. Ensure all pages are correctly numbered and include a word count at the end of the document.

Your report should have a title page which includes the names and student numbers of team members. You should also include a signed coursework declaration sheet with your report in the hard copy version (The team chair may sign this on behalf of the team). In addition, the group should include a completed team contribution sheet in the hard copy version. You may also wish to include a table of contents (you may use your word-processing package to do this for you). A common mistake in reports is to report on everything. This is not necessary! It is important to focus on the key issues. Additional material should be placed in an appendix, but be selective. However, if you include material in an appendix, it is important to refer this in the main text of your report (Note: the appendix is not usually included within the word count, but it should not be seen as a dumping ground for material exceeding the word limit.).

NOTE:

See Appendix 1 for Group Contribution Sheet See Appendix 2 for Harvard Referencing See Appendix 3 for a Checklist to be used for coursework submissions. See Appendix 4 for Suggestions for Group Organization See Appendix 5 for Guidance on Report Writing

Coursework Assessment Task 4: Assessed Group Presentation

GROUP PRESENTATION Required: This presentation will require each project group to give a 15 minute oral presentation of their work on the project to their module leader and additional marker in the Week 13 of Semester 2. As a brief guide the presentation should include the following issues: y y y Identify your main company and the competitor company and the reasons for the choice of competitor Consider the similarities and differences between the two companies (products produced/sold, strategy, size, markets operated in etc). What has happened to the project company share price over the period, comparing it with what has happened to the competitor share price and the stock market index in general? Such price movement should be broadly linked with economic and other events over the project period. Identify any unusual movements in the stock price. How the stock market has reacted to the event chosen of the share price project report, with a brief discussion of how this links with relevant press coverage. How the group process has operated in managing and tackling the project, and what the group members feel they have learnt from it. [This will need to have been discussed between group members to some extent before the presentation and can include reflections on how, with the experience gained, a similar project group might be organized differently if a similar task were performed in the future.]

y y

Practicalities: In doing group presentations, please remember you will only have the facilities available in the lecture room, so you will need to check what is there in the room in advance of the presentation. Your tutor will bring along whiteboard pens, but you will need to arrange for any other materials which you wish to use for your presentation (e.g. overhead transparencies, handouts). Do not assume there will be computer projection facilities, and even if there is, you must bring overhead transparencies as a back-up. Please ensure you arrive on time at the start of the class for the group presentations. WARNING: It is at the discretion of the marker to award zero to groups which arrive late to the presentation class.

GENERAL GUIDANCE FOR PRESENTATIONS

Oral presentations should get easier the more you give. A frequent reaction after giving your first one is 'that wasn't so bad but I'd make a better job if I gave it again'. This hints that the key to a good talk is preparation. Be well prepared, practice your talk beforehand. Transforming what you did or what you have found out into a presentation involves hard work. Preparation isn't just practice. Before you draft what you will say, remember y Decide what you would like the audience to learn from your presentation. y Get the overall picture clear in your mind so you can decide on a logical order for the content y Distil from the mass of information you have accumulated, the points that need to be made at each stage The following points refer mainly to the mechanics of the presentation itself. 1. Plan the structure of your talk, preparing themes for overheads 2. Make the content of your talk coherent. 3. Normally keep diagrams on overheads to one per overhead, making them as large as possible. Make the writing on the overheads large enough to be completely clear from the back of the room. 4. It's not essential but it's a good idea to begin the presentation with an overhead showing a clear title, the author(s) names and, either on the overhead or accompanying it, a few sentences summarizing why the audience will find the topic interesting. 5. Rehearse very well the first few sentences; stand up when you're introduced and take a deep breath, look at the audience and put up your opening slide or produce something else for them to look at while you relax and deliver your opening at a pace that's not hurried. 6. Talk to the audience, making eye contact with them, using the overhead projector as a diversion from the main attraction, namely you. This requires remembering a fair bit what you are going to say and not reading from a script all the time. 7. Talk loudly enough to be heard above the noise of the audio / visual aid. 8. Don't rush, but keep to time and use the time available to you. A few practices before hand will let you know you've got the timing right. 9. Do finish on a positive and definite note. Don't just peter out. This is very important since your final comments remain in the minds of those assessing the talk. Conclude by reminding people of the key points or emphasizing the achievements of what you have done. The presentation will be graded on the following grounds: y y y y y y Well balanced with proper emphasis on relevant details. Clear visuals & easy to hear Creative thoughts All sections adequately covered Succinct presentation Knowledgeable about material

Please note: The indications are provided to help you. There is not necessarily a straightforward relationship between them and your final grade. Categories are not equally weighted and other factors will be taken into account.